There Are Many Sides To UConn Men's Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun

Jim Calhoun was in the hallway of the Boys and Girls Club on Asylum Hill in Hartford when a man came up.

"It was someone involved with the food drive," recalled Peter Gold of Gold, Orluk & Partners, which has helped coordinate and publicize Calhoun's many charity events in Connecticut. "Jim knew him, but not particularly well. The guy said he had a friend who was dying of cancer, they probably wouldn't have him much longer, and he asked Jim if he would mind writing a note."

Calhoun's response: "What's his phone number?" He called the man on the spot.

"He must have spent 20 minutes on the phone with him," Gold says, "this guy he didn't even know, telling him 'don't give up, keep fighting, you can beat this thing.' "

In the 26 years since Calhoun left Boston to come to UConn, there are countless stories where his personal touch, his willingness to engage as much as his willingness to donate time and money, has touched lives.

"You can write a check and be done with it," says Dr. Bruce Liang, director of the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiac Center at the UConn Health Center. "But the way Coach Calhoun handles himself, he shows that he really cares."

At times, Calhoun's friends have been concerned about the schedule he keeps, and its impact on his health. It seems he never says 'no' to anything, Gold says, and over the years has continued to add ideas, causes and events to his schedule.

"He is as maniacal about these things as he has been about building his basketball program," Gold says.

Calhoun, 70, retired as UConn basketball coach this week with three national titles and 873 wins, sixth all-time among coaches, heralded as one of the greats for doing just what Gold said — building the program. He took UConn from a regional program to a national program, prompting friend and another coaching legend, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, to call it "the best building job in college basketball history."

Calhoun got the program there with tireless work, spending countless hours in the gym, in his office, on the road, but not to the detriment of his family life, says his wife. Jim and Pat Calhoun came here with two sons; Calhoun leaves coaching the grandfather of six, Pat saying he "has always given us enough time," not the easiest thing in his job.

Calhoun may be gone from the sidelines, but he has no plans to retire from the community, and he will become a major fundraising resource for UConn. Becoming so involved in the community was not something he planned when he came to Connecticut in May 1986. As Northeastern head coach, he had been somewhat lost in a market filled with major league teams. The packed press conference for his arrival in Storrs made him realize he was in a smaller pond, and thus could be a much, much bigger fish.

Gold estimates that Calhoun has raised between $15 and $20 million for various state charities.

"I had been involved in the Jimmy Fund in Boston," Calhoun said, as he walked from Gampel Pavilion on Friday. "But I knew that if Carl Yasztrzemski was up the street, and I was doing something down the street, then everybody would be up the street. When I came, I saw that we could have a voice."

Calhoun remembered that his most famous player at Northeastern organized a holiday food drive, and Calhoun, who remembered that after his father died, when times were tough, his mother always found a way to put out a big holiday spread, wanted to do the same in Hartford. In 1999, it began and has become an annual thing — the next one is set for Dec. 18. Last year was typical; more than 1,000 turkeys were handed out, Calhoun, his staff and players handing out the food.

"I like to look at the faces," Calhoun said. "Some won't look at you, which is pride, and I understand. Some are gregarious and happy to see you."

Dr. Susan Herbst, UConn's president, believes Calhoun has a way of identifying with people of all standings.

"Jim has this life force," Herbst said, "He's always on, and always ready to engage people. He's not 'above' anyone. Far from it, he's right on the level with everyone, even with his national prominence and wildly busy schedule."

The sudden death of his father from a heart attack drove Calhoun to work for research and awareness of heart disease, and led to the Cardiac Center, which he launched with a six-figure gift. In 1995, Calhoun approached Gold and asked for ideas for creating an event to benefit the center, and the Alumni Weekend, which includes the basketball game featuring former players, was born and has since raised more than $6 million for the center.

In 2002, Calhoun landed a prize recruit, getting Dr. Liang to come from the University of Pennsylvania.

"I knew of the commitment that Jim and Pat had to the center," Liang said. "I remember we met [in Farmington] and we talked, and I was touched by Jim's story of how his father had passed away when he was 15. … It is a different side of him than the intensity you see when he is coaching basketball."